The Rashtrakutas and their Times c18.s1.22

c18.s1.22

It is not easy to determine the exact incidence of the taxation on land in our period. The Smṛiti and Nīti writers lay down that the state demand should vary between 8% to 16%⁹. The Arthaśāstra would advocate a levy of 25%¹⁰. Śukra, a medieval writer, permits land taxation between 25% to 50% in the case of irrigated lands, but adds that the taxation on ordinary dry lands should be such that the net produce should be twice the cost of production, the latter term including the government dues as well.¹¹ Caṇḍeśvara, another medieval writer, states that the expression ‘*shadbhāga*’ with reference to land tax is merely figurative, and means that the king should take such amount as is necessary for the needs of government and may not be felt as oppressive by the subjects.¹² Since the theory writers differ so greatly and allow so wide an option to the state we may take it that the land tax in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dominions must have varied with the quality of the land and the needs of the state.